BRIDGEWATER – Wawa wants to tear down five houses so it can build a store and gas station on Route 202 across from Wegmans.

The township zoning board of adjustment will hear the latest in series of applications to build convenience stores in the township on Tuesday, July 29. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the township complex on Commons Way.

Under the plan, five houses, including a group home owned by Delta Community Supports, will be razed on the south side of the highway east of the entrance to Thermo Fisher Scientific. The total area of the combined lots is 2.57 acres.

The plan calls for two entrances — one off Fisher Place, the access road to Thermo Fisher Scientific, at the traffic signal and other near the eastern border of the property.

The plan includes 60 parking spaces, when 23 are required by the township land use ordinance..

A use variance for the project is needed because the area is zoned for residential use. That means Wawa has to prove the development will have a positive impact and no negative impact.

Wawa has already been granted a use variance for a store at Route 28 and Chimney Rock Road in the Finderne section of the township.

Green Brook is now considering an application to build a Wawa on the northeastern corner of Route 22 and Warrenville Road. That application has drawn opposition from neighbors to the rear of the property.

In recent months, Bridgewater has denied an application to build a 7-Eleven at the intersection of East Main Street and Finderne Avenue, also in the Finderne section.

The township zoning board has also rejected a proposal to expand the Sunoco station at the intersection of Route 28 and Country Club Road to include a convenience store. Sunoco has filed suit in Superior Court to overturn that rejection.